JOIN USKonkani poet Valley Quadras has been chosen for Kavita Trust's Mathias Family poetry award for the year 2017. The award selection committee appointed by Kavita Trust has announced that the award will be conferred on the poet on January 14, 2018 during the 12th edition of Kavita Fest to held at Bodhi Tree - the Farm House, near Jeppu in Mangaluru.
Renowned Kannada novelist and writer K T Gatti will be the chief guest during the occasion. The award, which has been instituted in the name of his family by the managing director of Merit Freight Systems, Dubai, Joseph Mathias includes Rs 25,000 in cash, a memento and citation.
Born at Ajekar in Udupi district in 1967, Valerian Alwyn Quadras obtained a degree in MBA from Sikkim Manipal University and worked for several years in the middle east countries as well as in Europe. He currently resides in Mumbai. He has published four poetry collections - 'Char Mukham' (2003), 'Katputhli' (2005), 'Darbarantli Pirngonn' (2006) and 'Bazar' (2017). Apart from these, he has edited 4 books on poetry studies. He is the author of 6 novels and five short story collections.
Whilst in Kuwait and recently from Mumbai, he has been editing Konkani websites and has popularised poetry. He has encouraged many budding Konkani poets by publishing their poetry collections through his Ashawadi Prakashan.
Kavita Trust has been giving this award for the past 10 years in recognition of any individual's contribution in the field of Konkani poetry.